THE NEWS OMBUDSMAN Watchdog or decoy? Huub Evers Harmen Groenhart Jan van Groesen part 3

The Middle East conflict

In marked contrast with the discus sion on the alle ged leftism of the NOS is

the discus sion about the cove rage of the Middle East conflict. After all, the

fate of the Pales ti nian people is a theme usually asso ci a ted with leftist

feelings of compas sion rather than the conser va tive tone of the Right. The

complaints do not point in a parti cu lar direc tion. Some complai ners see

reason for a pro-Israeli perspec tive, others for a pro-Pales ti nian perspec -

tive, but the columns of the ombuds man show that mainly the Israeli

perspec tive prevails. This issue is addres sed in two columns over a

three-month inter val. In the first column, Van Brus sel states that the

viewers can expect impro ve ment, in the second he obser ves that the inter -

na ti o nal editors have not quite lived up to that expectation.

In NOS pro-Israel, pro-Pales tijns of onpar tij dig? [NOS pro-Israel,

pro-Pales ti nian or impar tial?] (18 April 2008), Van Brus sel addres ses this

issue in response to a study report by Astrid Essed, commis si o ned by the

Stop de bezet ting [Stop the occu pa tion] foun da tion. Foun da tion chair

Gretta Duisen berg submit ted a copy of the report to the ombuds man,

repro aching the NOS for its "biased" repor ting. "This public broad cas ting

foun da tion is seri ously preju di ced", Duisen berg claims. In her opinion, the

NOS shows Israel and the Western world to "be in the right". The inter na ti -

o nal editors find Duisen berg's complaint unjus ti fied, although they

acknow ledge the impor tance of correct wording and admit to some ti mes

making mista kes. The ombuds man, howe ver, adopts a criti cal atti tude

towards the study report and there fore conducts his own study into the

cove rage, cove ring a longer period of time. In addi tion, he consults a

number of experts. During his study, he regu larly encoun ters instan ces of

Pales ti ni ans being quali fied as "mili tant", "extre mist" and "radi cal".

Further more, he noti ces that the reports frequently refer to Israeli attacks as

reac ti ons to earlier Pales ti nian attacks, while Pales ti nian attacks are not

118 THE NEWS OMBUDSMAN

moti va ted in the reports. In short, the editors are apply ing double stand -

ards. This is in line with what the experts assert: the Israeli perspective

prevails with the NOS.

A speci fic aspect of the cove rage of the Middle East conflict concerns

diver ging opini ons on the inter na ti o nal legal status of the conflict. A group

of people, among whom Duisen berg, feel that under inter na ti o nal law

Israel should aban don all the occu pied areas. Others, by contrast, feel that

the inter na ti o nal commu nity should protect Israeli citi zens. An expert

states that the news reports would be too complex if the NOS were to

consis tently state the legal aspects in its "primary coverage".

Three months later, the ombuds man once again takes ups the conflict

(Israel: NOS (eind)redac ties zijn hard leers [Israel: NOS (gene ral) editors

are stub born] (25 July 2008)), in response to complaints about the

pro-Israeli nature of the reports on an exchange of Israeli priso ners for

Leba nese and Pales ti nian priso ners. One of the complai ners expe rien ces

the over tone of the cove rage as "How sad for Israel and what kind of

monsters are they, those Pales ti ni ans". The inter na ti o nal editors take up a

defen sive posi tion. They claim that they are stri ving for "a balan ced appro -

ach", which is hinde red by limi ted broad cas ting time. The editors acknow -

ledge that cove ring both perspec ti ves in a broad cast would be prefe ra ble but

by way of defence, they point to the report aired the follo wing day, which

focu sed on the "Arab" perspec tive. After all, it is the "over all picture" that

counts, they claim. Accor ding to the ombuds man, that over all picture still

lacks balance. Although he obser ves some impro ve ment since his April

column, he still justi fies the viewers who feel that the Israeli perspec tive

prevails. He does not appear very recep tive to the edito rial defence that only

the "over all picture" provi ded by a series of reports matters. In his opinion,

the NOS should strive for balance espe ci ally within indi vi dual broad casts.

Remar ka bly, in his view the daytime broad casts are balanced, while the

eight o'clock news is not.

The complaints about the cove rage of the Middle East conflict, for that

matter, do not always accuse the NOS of a prefe rence for one of the conten -

ding parties. A liste ner to the Radio 1 news took offence at a care less state -

ment by a corres pon dent in the Gaza strip (1 Febru ary 2008). On Satur day

26 Janu ary, in the bulle tin on Egyp tian trade in the Gaza strip, the corres -

pon dent said: "All kinds of things are brought in here in Gaza, perhaps even

weapons. If I were Hamas, I would cert ainly do that". The complai ner felt

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 119

that NOS contri bu tors should not exhi bit their perso nal opini ons in their

reports. The inter na ti o nal editor-in-chief and the ombuds man agreed. The

corres pon dent in ques tion had alre ady expres sed his regret for his care les -

sness. In conclu sion the ombuds man adds: "… a human error cannot

always be precluded under pressure".

w Coloured words

The danger of colou red wording is not restric ted to the Israeli-Pales ti nian

conflict. Apart from Hamas, other mili tant sepa ra tist move ments are

forcing the NOS to make a choice. Should editors refer to free dom fighters,

rebels or terro rists? Among the viewers, inte res tingly, the cove rage of the

conflict between Turkey and the Kurdish sepa ra tist move ment PKK gene -

ra ted two oppo sing ques ti ons: 1) Why doesn't the NOS state that the PKK is

a terro rist orga ni sa tion? 2) Why is the NOS siding against the PKK and

sugge sting that the PKK is "commit ting bloody attacks against defen ce less

civi li ans"? (19 Octo ber 2007). The one group of complai ners feels that the

NOS could be a bit more criti cal of the PKK, the other thinks that the NOS

may be a bit more criti cal of the Turkish govern ment. It is hardly surpri sing

that the complaints origi na ted from Turkish and Kurdish quar ters, respec -

ti vely. This contra dic tion demon stra tes that viewers or groups of viewers

disting uish them sel ves by subjec tive views but, accor ding to the ombuds -

man, it also indi ca tes that "those invol ved are more alert to parti a lity than

others". The editors claim that they are trying "to be as objec tive as possi -

ble", which is why they are avoi ding the subjec tive expres sion of "terro rist".

The editors prefer "rebels" or "sepa ra tist move ment". This is confir med by a

univer sity profes sor teaching Turkish Lang u age and Lite ra ture: "That the

United Nati ons or the Euro pean Union call an orga ni sa tion terro rist does

not in itself consti tute reason for adop ting that quali fi ca tion in the media".

The ombuds man obser ves that the NOS justly refrains from using the term

"terro rist", as do colle a gues at, for exam ple, CNN and the BBC. He does

take offence at the vari a ble termi no logy, which is still not free from value

judge ments. "Some ti mes, the PKK fighters are called rebels, some ti mes

Kurdish free dom fighters, at yet other times they are called members of a

sepa ra tist move ment". He advi ses the editors to use an unequi vo cal and

neutral term and argues in favour of a consistent use of the term "separatist

movement".

An unin ten ti o nal stand was also taken when, in a report on the

Turkish-Kurdish conflict, the editors showed a map of the area in which the

conflict is taking place (11 Janu ary 2008). A shaded part of the map was

marked Kurdis tan, sugge sting that Kurdis tan is a coun try. The editors

acknow led ged their mistake and the ombuds man poin ted out that recur -

rent mista kes like that will result in care les sness being justi fi a bly expe rien -

ced as parti a lity. Such mista kes are easily made, as is evident from some

angry letters from Kurdish quar ters pertai ning to that same column of the

ombuds man. He in his turn would have taken a stand by stating that

Kurdis tan does not exist. We will go into this in another chapter.

The views of the ombuds man with regard to the need for neutra lity at the

NOS are discus sed in detail in De mening van de NOS [The opinion of the

NOS] (30 May 2008). Apart from all the complaints about the NOS being

preju di ced, the ombuds man also recei ves comments that the NOS could

speak out more often. For exam ple, in favour of or against the PKK (19

Octo ber 2007), about the fate of the Tibe tan people (30 May 2008) or

against bull fighting (20 June 2008). In unequi vo cal terms, the ombuds -

man states that the opinion of the NOS is of no rele vance what soe ver, refer -

ring to the first four arti cles of the NOS jour na lis tic code. He also

acknow led ges that leaving out a perso nal opinion is diffi cult for jour na lists:

" 'But,' one of the complaints reads, 'does the news selec tion not reflect an

opinion as well? That is why the NOS can never be objec ti ve'. That complai -

ner is right. There is no such thing as objec ti vity." The view Van Brus sel

expres ses here, howe ver, rela tes to the percei ved news wor thi ness of the

events; accor ding to Van Brus sel, the NOS can quite well leave it up to

others to judge whether something is good or bad.

In short: the leit mo tiv in the ombuds man's line of reaso ning is a partial

denial of the alle ged bias of the NOS. Although mista kes are made and the

impres sion of a stand being taken is justi fied on occa sion, the NOS does not

demon strate any syste ma tic leftism, the ombuds man opines. He chal lenges

the leftist move ment repro ach but also seems to recon cile himself to a

relent less, hard core of critics. Stri kingly, he expres ses his high hopes for the

study the NPO is having conduc ted into the pluri for mity of its program -

ming. The ombuds man is, howe ver, criti cal of the cove rage of the Middle

East conflict and other conflicts. In his opinion, the NOS should be even

more univo cal and neutral in its reports than it is now.

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 121

w Newsworthiness: how justified is the attention paid by the NOS?

Just like "neutra lity", the jour na lis tic theme of "news wor thi ness" ensues

directly from the first arti cle of the NOS jour na lis tic code. The aim of the

NOS of being a "primary news source" for the "Dutch popu la tion" char ges

it with the respon si bi lity of asses sing what is worth repor ting and what is

not. After all, the broad cas ting time (but also viewers' atten tion) is limi ted.

Here, too, it does not come as a surprise that a substan tial number of

columns deal with the ques tion of how much atten tion the NOS should

focus on vari ous subjects. Some accuse the NOS of an "Ajax over kill " (2

Novem ber 2007) or too much atten tion for Wilders (18 Janu ary 2008).

Others, on the other hand, feel that some topics receive too little atten tion,

for exam ple the opening cere mony of the Para lym pics (11 Septem ber

2008) or, as refer red to above, the fate of the Pales ti ni ans or the Tibe tans.

The columns show that the ombuds man regu larly goes into the news wor -

thi ness of the events and developments on which the NOS reports or not.

w Importance: Geert Wilders

In a diptych of succes sive columns, the ombuds man expands upon his

study into the reports on Geert Wilders (18 Janu ary 08 and 25 Janu ary

2008). This in response to vari ous complaints about an alle ged exces sive

cove rage, but also the uncert ainty in parli a ment and the royal family about

how to deal with the poli ti cian.

Accor ding to the ombuds man, the news wor thi ness of Geert Wilders

depends on three factors: the content of Wilders' message, the reac ti ons it

may elicit and the extent of his move ment. The consi de ra ble atten tion

Geert Wilders recei ves can, on the one hand, be explai ned by the nine seats

his party PVV holds in parli a ment. On the other, howe ver, Van Brus sel

obser ves a posi tive change vis-à-vis the manner in which the press used to

deal with contro ver sial poli ti ci ans. He calls the current atten tion for

Wilders "a bles sing" in compa ri son with the way poli ti ci ans and the press

struc tu rally kept quiet about Janmaat [leader of the extreme right CD

party]. In their time, popu lar MP Boer Koekoek and CPN [Commu nist

Party] leader Marcus Bakker also recei ved less atten tion than should be

expec ted by jour na lis tic stand ards. The ombuds man regards 2002 as the

end of an era of "mammoth alli an ces". "Then, Pim Fortuyn still mana ged to

entice jour na lists into focu sing atten tion on what they thought of his

message rather than repor ting on the origin of that message". Mammoth

alli an ces may be a thing of the past, in the eyes of some viewers the era of the

NOS as a mouthpiece for the PVV has commen ced. Accor ding to Van Brus -

sel, howe ver, the NOS should be able to report on contro ver sial poli ti ci ans

in an inde pen dent and balan ced manner, as they consti tute part of the

"deve lop ments in the world". In the words of Editor-in-chief Laroes, what

matters is "the world rather than the will of the viewer".

Van Brus sel inves ti ga ted the cove rage of two issues with which Wilders

sought publi city, viz. the Queen's Christ mas message and Doekle Terp stra's

appeal with regard to the "Wilde ri sa tion of society". The ombuds man states

that in both cases the NOS had good reason, in jour na lis tic terms, to

request a reac tion from Wilders. The Queen, accor ding to the ombuds man,

impli citly but clearly refer red to Wilders, while Terp stra's appeal did not

leave any doubt either as to the subject of its allu si ons. In Van Brus sel's view,

there fore, this consti tu ted "repor ting that offers the Dutch popu la tion a

better basis for asses sing deve lop ments in the world and deci ding on a

course of action". That is why the ombuds man conclu ded: "The atten tion

the NOS pays to Geert Wilders is what is known as 'pro por ti o nal'". Propor -

ti o na lity is good, cert ainly in contrast to media "mammoth alli an ces", but

Van Brus sel is taking turns on two wheels in his satis fac tion with the

propor ti o na lity of the cove rage. In his judge ment, he fails to reite rate that

he is rely ing on limi ted research data. Conse quently, the ombuds man

passes over the fact that in all its other parli a men tary reports the NOS could

nonet he less be focusing "disproportionate" attention on Wilders.

w Factuality: rumours and polls

In addi tion to impor tance, factu a lity is anot her deci sive factor in deter mi -

ning the news value of an event or deve lop ment. In Moet de NOS al het

nieuws melden? (2) [Should the NOS report all the news?] (10 July 2008),

for exam ple, the ombuds man denoun ced the media atten tion for the Depla

issue because of its lack of factu a lity.5) The matter was and still is a rumour.

Although his column does not address the line of action pursued by the

NOS in concrete terms, he speci fies that the popu lar online forum

GeenStijl.nl was the first to publish this rumour. Once the ANP had repro -

du ced the news, in Van Brus sel's opinion the jour na lis tic law applied that

"if news is divul ged via a recog ni sed quality medium such as the ANP, other

media do not want to miss out". This is, there fore, not correct, accor ding to

Van Brussel.

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 123

Van Brus sel holds a simi lar opinion of the media atten tion for the

announ ced Peter R. de Vries broad cast on Joran van der Sloot's confes si ons

with regard to the disap pe a rance of Nata lee Hollo way. "Gene rally spea king,

it is the facts and the reac ti ons they elicit that deter mine the news value of a

topic" but in the case of the announ ced Peter R. de Vries broad cast, the

ombuds man deemed the facts too scant to warrant the exces sive media

atten tion. Van Brus sel acknow led ges that it is easy to be wise after the event

but consi ders "Joran's lesson" to be that "such a scant amount of facts calls

for more reti cence in its coverage".

The columns also assess the news value of a wide range of research

results, based on their factu a lity. In Opinie pei lingen: minder, maar beter

[Opinion polls: fewer but better] (26 Octo ber 2007), a viewer wonders at

the fact that the TV news no longer featu res polls on the nati on's poli ti cal

prefe ren ces. The column is devo ted to the new policy with regard to polls.

After the last Lower House elec ti ons, the NOS deci ded to refrain from using

polls for the time being because polls create a false reality. "The sentence 'if

elec ti ons were to be held right now' is by defi ni tion incor rect", accor ding to

the gene ral editors. Although a ban on polls is deemed unde si ra ble by both

an expert and the ombuds man, Van Brus sel agrees that the news value of

polls is limi ted. The selec tive use of such research results can expect to meet

with the ombudsman's assent.

A speci fic form of polling is the consu mer confi dence gauged once a

month by Statis tics Nether lands (CBS). When CBS issued a press rele ase

that consu mer confi dence had collap sed, while other publi ca ti ons pain ted a

more rosy picture of the economy, NOS editors ques ti o ned the value of

these poll results. Van Brus sel subse quently consul ted a number of econo -

mists, seeking advice on the advi sa bi lity of publis hing the CBS study. They

"unani mously" stated that across the board, such publi ca ti ons presup pose

too much fore know ledge among the viewers and colour the images that are

esta blis hed, which can be unde si ra ble. After commen ding the self-criti cal

atti tude of the editors concer ned, Van Brus sel responds in a curi ous, ambi -

gu ous manner. He advi ses jour na lists to provide the viewers with a better

expla na tion of how to inter pret such research results. Perhaps the ombuds -

man has little faith in the effect of his advice, for at the same time he advi ses

viewers to take such polls "with at least one grain of salt".

The cove rage of a hostage situ a tion in the Almelo town hall also gave rise to

124 THE NEWS OMBUDSMAN

inter nal debate among the editors. On the web site of the Asso ci a tion of

Mayors, the Crisis Mana ge ment Co-ordi na tor concer ned complai ned

about the fact that the NOS had menti o ned a special squad "being kept in

reserve". The co-ordi na tor was annoyed: "Suppose the emoti o nally tense

hostage taker in the town hall reads the tele text message. In such a case,

knowing that the special squad is ready to take action could mean the final

push. No matter what, in my opinion, it is irres pon si ble of the NOS to

expli citly mention the special squad like that". The ombuds man did not

agree; he consi de red the mention of the special squad posi ti vely news -

worthy. Even if, in the words of the co-ordi na tor, "nobody in his right mind

would be surpri sed" about the presence of such a squad. This obli te ra tes the

argu ment that the report could have taken the hostage taker by surprise.

Accor ding to the ombuds man, the key ques tion with regard to menti o ning

the special squad is whether it is suffi ciently news worthy, not whether it

will upset the hostage taker. "Jour na lists should not keep their mouths

shut," the ombuds man states. In his opinion, citi zens have a need for infor -

ma tion about the actual line of action taken by the crisis team and the

police.

w Privacy: how respectful is the attention paid by the NOS?

Viewers feel very strongly about disclo sing perso nal infor ma tion. Judging

by the ombuds man's columns, quite a few viewers take up their pens when

the NOS publis hes privacy-sensi tive infor ma tion. The very first column by

the ombuds man (Tanja, de Farc en de tijd geest [Tanja, the Farc and the

spirit of the times] (13 Septem ber 2007)) addres ses a privacy issue. Viewers

took offence at the atten tion focu sed on Dutchwo man Tanja, who is invol -

ved in the Colom bian rebel move ment Farc. Van Brus sel seizes upon the

complaints to explain why the NOS deci ded to report on her. Tanja's

parents have always conce a led her acti vi ties with the Farc but after the

Colom bian newspa per El Tiempo had disclo sed her iden tity, they no

longer kept silent. Should the NOS have been more reti cent? Not accor ding

to Van Brus sel. First of all, El Tiempo had alre ady divul ged her iden tity. He

assu mes that "if the NOS had been the first media worldwide to expose this

news fact, it would have opted for a more reti cent appro ach". His second

argu ment pertains to the spirit of the time. Whereas in the past names were

seldom menti o ned, it is now the "most natu ral thing in the world" for

people's private life to become public. He also refers to "all the papers and

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 125

all the radio and tele vi sion chan nels in the Nether lands" that opted for the

perso nal appro ach too. The advan tage, he explains, is that Tanja is provi -

ding an abstract topic, such as the poli ti cal divi sion in Colom bia, with a

human face. The ombuds man is right in bring ing up the woman's safety.

The editors have no qualms because she "is not suspec ted of a crime or the

like" but the ombuds man points out that Colom bia and the EU do not see

eye to eye in that respect. More o ver, the Farc is a strict move ment. There is

no doubt that her safety is at issue but the ombuds man recon ci les himself

to the situation as if it were a necessary evil.

Three months later (7 Decem ber 2007), Van Brus sel devo tes his column

to the manner in which the NOS deals with the private lives of suspects who

have made the news. Viewers wonder about its policy: "Why Mink K., but

Willem Hollee der?" Van Brus sel refers to the rule that menti o ning some o -

ne's full name is accep ta ble if the person invol ved seeks publi city of his own

accord, like Hollee der. Apart from that he argues in favour of reti cence. In

addi tion, Van Brus sel states, "people in vulne ra ble posi ti ons" some ti mes

need to be protec ted from themselves.

In this respect, Van Brus sel points to the auto nomy of the NOS: "In my

opinion, menti o ning names because they have alre ady been disclo sed by

other media consti tu tes a far less valid argu ment for inva ding some o ne's

privacy. The 'seri ous' media make other compa ra tive asses sments in their

daily selec tion and proces sing of news than the 'popu lar' media. The NOS

should adopt that same appro ach in these types of cases." Remar ka bly, this

argu ment is at odds with what the ombuds man sket ched with regard to

Tanja's privacy, when he glos sed over the publi city by poin ting to other

media. The NOS did not need to be reti cent, as El Tiempo had alre ady

disclo sed her iden tity. Further more, he obser ved that all the media "were on

the same wave length". Although he did not expli citly state so, it is obvi ous

that this comment was inten ded to reflect his consent of the line of action

pursued by the NOS. On account of that ambi guity, we must wonder what

exactly Van Brus sel means by his closing sentence "It is more impor tant that

the NOS, as the largest news orga ni sa tion in the Nether lands, sets a good

exam ple rather than be swayed by the issues of the day."

Judging by the columns, a mani fes ta tion of that exam ple could be that,

accor ding to the ombuds man, the NOS was justi fied in refrai ning from

broad cas ting foot age of the death of RTL came ra man Stan Stori mans, out

of respect for his survi ving rela ti ves (15 August 2008) or orde ring a DNA

test to verify the gender of dece a sed athlete Foekje Dillema and subse -

quently repor ting on the case (29 August 2008).

Privacy cases do not always involve jour na lis tic dilem mas. For exam ple,

it is beyond discus sion that images of delin quents who wish to remain

anony mous must be uniden ti fi a ble. If news editors slip up in that respect,

they have no choice but to acknow ledge blame: "Obvi ously, somet hing

went wrong here" (19-9-08), the editors state about their fail ure to render a

delin quent anonymous.

To put it briefly: privacy is a matter that exer ci ses many minds and rightly

so. The rules for anony mi sa tion seem clear, but in actual prac tice appear to

hold many excep ti ons. NOS editors some ti mes strug gle with dilem mas and

evidently opt for vary ing appro aches, but the ombuds man does not seem

very consis tent in his argu men ta tion either.

w Accountability and openness: how "fair" is the attention paid by

the NOS?

"The social call for account is getting louder every day", it says in Een medi -

a code is geen schande [A media code is no disgrace] (12 Octo ber 2007).

This explains, among other things, why media accoun ta bi lity is a recur rent

theme in Van Brus sel's columns. Further more, accor ding to the ombuds -

man's own statute, the exis tence of an ombuds man also rela tes to accoun -

ta bi lity. For exam ple, Van Brus sel uses the appoint ment of an inde pen dent

ombuds man to refute the former NPO chair man alle ga ti ons that the NOS

is avoi ding discus si ons (23 November 2007).

Two columns address the pheno me non of media accoun ta bi lity and the

inten ti ons of the NOS in a gene ral sense. The ombuds man takes a posi tive

view of media accoun ta bi lity. He expects that the quality press will start

disting uis hing itself by "the extent to which it is prepa red to be subjec ted to

inde pen dent testing". Although as the NOS ombuds man he himself has his

work cut out for him, he is look ing forward to a self-regu la ting media

ombuds insti tute with its own code. In that sense, he even refers to "civi li sa -

tion that has been gover ning England, Sweden and South Africa for some

time".

He is, howe ver, not uncri ti cal of the pheno me non. How and to what

extent jour na lists should be called to account is under discus sion with the

ombuds man as well. For exam ple, he fails to recog nise the value of a public

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 127

regis ter of poten ti ally conflic ting inte rests of jour na lists, as sugge sted by

jour na list Theo Ders jant (28 Decem ber 2007). Van Brus sel's defence is that

unlike poli ti ci ans, jour na lists are not public figu res, while the concept of

jour na list is so libe ral that it would be "very East-German-like" to regis ter

anyone play ing a role in the public debate. In addi tion, the ombuds man

belie ves that employ ees are prima rily accoun ta ble to their prin ci pal, viz. the

NOS. Here, Van Brus sel is rather quick to ignore the fact that "the public"

might just as well be regar ded as a prin ci pal of jour na lists. This more libe ral

view is more in line with his pleas advocating media accountability.

In two columns, Van Brus sel criti ci ses the account given by the NOS; he

obser ves a discre pancy between the inten ti ons of the NOS and actual prac -

tice. A report on the inter twi ning of the under world and the upper world in

the real estate sector prompts a discus sion (De NOS moet ruiter lijk recti fi -

ce ren [The NOS must rectify frankly], (4 Octo ber 2007)). Real estate trader

Chris Thünnes sen is annoyed at the image the report evokes; as if he had

invi ted crimi nals like Miere met, Klep per and Hollee der to a party. The NOS

refu ses to rectify because the gene ral editors do not see any reason to, even

though they acknow ledge that it would have been "more elegant if we had

contac ted Thünnes sen". Seven teen days later, after Thünnes sen has forgone

summary procee dings against the NOS, the NOS reports in a broad cast:

"The NOS neit her stated nor inten ded to suggest that the three indi vi du als

were in Monaco at the invi ta tion of Metter woon or Mr Thünnes sen, and

regrets any other impres sion that may have arisen. The acti vi ties and events

under consi de ra tion are not rela ted, as the NOS and Mr Thünnes sen have

jointly ascert ai ned." The ombuds man is surpri sed that the NOS did not

comply with the request to rectify right away, while never the less agree ing to

broadcast this message after seventeen days.

This might be explai ned by the diffe rent inter pre ta ti ons of the word

recti fi ca tion. The view held by the gene ral editors entails that recti fi ca ti ons

are only in order in the event of factual inac cu ra cies. The ombuds man has

adop ted a broa der defi ni tion: he regards publi cly acknow led ging and

apolo gi sing for any wrong impres si ons conveyed as a form of recti fi ca tion.

This broa der view ties in with the promise made by the NOS that it will

"rectify frankly" and "give account" of a "transparent process".

Such promi ses are not always made smoothly, possi bly because jour na -

lists are still unac cu sto med to concepts such as accoun ta bi lity and trans pa -

rent proces ses. In Irak: de oorlog en de waar heid [Iraq: the war and the

truth] (21 March 2008), the ombuds man tackles the problem of esta blis -

hing the truth in war reports. Accor ding to the ombuds man, although

many jour na lists acknow ledge that the truth is the first to be cut down in

battle, they have trou ble incor po ra ting that idea into their reports. The

ombuds man quotes Joris Luyen dijk, who argues for grea ter open ness on

the limi ta ti ons with which jour na lists are strug gling. In his column, Van

Brus sel gives an exam ple of the manner in which open ness can be mani fe -

sted, in his view. A corres pon dent is explai ning a TV report: "The situ a tion

is very diffi cult, as is evident from the mere number of casu al ties repor ted

by the Chinese autho ri ties and the Tibe tan orga ni sa ti ons. In normal

circum stan ces, repor ting in and about Tibet is quite diffi cult for jour na lists.

Now it is virtu ally impos si ble for us to obtain our own, first-hand infor ma -

tion. We depend on eyewit ness state ments, which obvi ously cannot be veri -

fied… Conse quently, we are facing the risk of one-sided reports. Of

propa ganda even, from whiche ver side. And of course that is never good,

that is dang erous." The ombuds man states that the reports should exhibit

more of this kind of openness.

For exam ple, on 5 Septem ber NOS tele text slip ped up, accor ding to the

ombuds man (19 Septem ber 2008). The report claims that unman ned US

Army aircraft killed five mili tant Muslims in a missile attack. In the

ombuds man's opinion, a viewer aptly complains that unman ned aircraft

have no way of knowing whether Muslims are mili tant or not. They could

just as well have been inno cent civi li ans. The editors acknow ledge their

mistake, indi ca ting that they should have refe ren ced the source ("accor ding

to the US Army") and that eyewit nes ses saw unman ned aircraft fire missi -

les. The NOS should have indi ca ted that they could not ascert ain whether

the victims were indeed militant Muslims.

Worth menti o ning, finally, is that the ombuds man himself appe ars to be

open to accoun ta bi lity as well. On one occa sion (28 March 2007) he apolo -

gi ses for delays in the deli very of complaints, on anot her (1 Febru ary 2008)

he reports on corres pon dence with complai ners in response to a column. In

the column in ques tion, Van Brus sel accu ses the NOS of sugge sting that the

state of Kurdis tan would not exist. Many Kurds in their turn complai ned

about the column's title, Koer dis tan bestaat niet [Kurdis tan does not exist].

The ombuds man apolo gi ses and acknow led ges that the title should have

read De staat Koer dis tan bestaat niet [The state of Kurdis tan does not exist].

These two cases, by the way, do not mean that the ombuds man gives

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 129

account to the public in a syste ma tic manner, but they are indi ca tive of a

willing ness to engage in public self-reflection.

w Exhaustiveness: how complete is the attention paid by the NOS?

One of the tenets in the NOS jour na lis tic code is that the NOS obser ves the

highest stand ards as regards balan ced repor ting and pluri for mity. Many a

column of the ombuds man shows that these crite ria some ti mes fall

through. Obvi ously, balan ced repor ting and pluri for mity are broad

concepts which we will cate go rise under the heading of exhaus ti ve ness in

this publi ca tion, at the risk of oversimplifying things.

w Hearing both sides

A clas sic jour na lis tic prin ci ple is that of hearing both sides. This is also

inclu ded in the NOS code. Making the most of limi ted broad cas ting time or

tele text space inevi ta bly results in the selec tion of infor ma tion. In such

cases, half or the other side of a story might get lost in the process. It is,

there fore, only logi cal for the ombuds man to receive complaints about

incom plete stories.

On two occa si ons reports on the squat ters' move ment elici ted

complaints from viewers. On 9 Novem ber 2007, both the complai ners, the

ombuds man and the editor-in-chief on duty obser ved that the cove rage

failed to consi der the other side of the issue. A report on the evic tion of

squat ters refers to an "ambush" or a "trap" alle gedly inten ded for the police.

The editor-in-chief regrets that the dissen ting opinion of the squat ters was

missing in the tele vi sion news. Remar ka bly, the radio bulle tins did present

the squat ters' point of view. Nearly a year later, viewers express a simi lar

repro ach with regard to a report (25 Septem ber 2008). The NOS TV news

reports: "The world of squat ting has changed… Idea lism has all but disap -

pe a red. Violence abounds." Alle gedly, the report reflec ted too much of the

perspec tive of those in favour of the squat ting ban. Here, too, the gene ral

editors and the ombuds man acknow ledge that the cove rage was unba lan -

ced. Van Brus sel is quite harsh in his judge ment: "Espe ci ally at a time when

the poli ti cal climate surroun ding an issue is chang ing, it is impor tant for

jour na lists to fuel the social debate with facts rather than trimming their

sails to the wind."

After Fidel Castro resig ned, the NOS broad cast an eight-minute portrait

of the Cuban presi dent. Complai ners (29 Febru ary 2008) deemed the

portrait "naïve and incom plete"; they regret ted the lack of refe rence to the

"flagrant viola tion of human rights under his regime". The gene ral editors

and the ombuds man agree. Van Brus sel rightly states that eight minu tes of

broad cast time offers suffi cient room for a "well-construc ted argu ment",

with adequate atten tion for the dark sides of Castro's regime. "Omit ting the

metho di cal viola ti ons of human rights is just plain wrong."

Accor ding to the ombuds man, editors should not take refuge behind the

defence of the pres sure of time: "working under pres sure is part of the

profes si o na lism of editors". Although in the ombuds man's opinion the

editors are not hiding behind that defence in the case of Castro's portrait,

the editors' response in his column does give rise to that impres sion. The

editors claim that they were incon ve nien ced by delays in the produc tion

process. "This is no excuse for wrong ful omis si ons in this work, but an

outline of an unlucky star under which it was born." This is typi cal for the

justi fi ca tion provi ded by editors: they acknow ledge their mistake but

hasten to explain what caused it. Of course, they have every right to do so,

although the ques tion arises whether perhaps the expla na tion was impli -

citly inten ded or could be inter pre ted as an excuse after all.

w Guilty or not?

Two columns deal with the stand ard rule that a suspect is not guilty until

after he has been convic ted. This seems a simple rule but in prac tice, things

some ti mes go wrong. Cartoon ist Grego rius Nekschot is known across the

coun try by now; on 15 May 2008 the police hauled him out of bed because

the Public Prose cu tor consi de red his cartoons racist. That does not mean

that the cartoon ist is actu ally racist in the legal sense of the word. The tele -

text editors acknow ledge their mistake in the ombuds man's column (23

May 2008) devo ted to the head line "Racist cartoon ist appre hen ded".

During an evalu a tion, the editors unani mously asses sed the head line as

inap propri ate. Limi ta ti ons in space or broad cas ting time can put pres sure

on the exhaustiveness of information.

A simi lar problem, accor ding to the ombuds man, is caused by the tele -

text report "Moroc cans thre a ten super mar ket staff " (10 Octo ber 2008). The

disple a sure expres sed by repre sen ta ti ves of Moroc can orga ni sa ti ons unle -

as hed a heated discus sion among the editors. The editor-in-chief, howe ver,

stuck to his guns: "By way of compa ri son: that same tele text page 101 also

featu red the head line Feye noord fans to blows in Göten burg . Here too,

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 131

howe ver, readers imme di a tely under stand that we are not refer ring to all

Feye noord fans but only to a small group of hool igans." When the sube di tor

appe a red to have doubts as well, the head line was changed to read Super -

mar ket staff thre a te ned after contac ting police. In this column, Van Brus sel

exhi bits his prin ci pled side: not only the head line but the entire report was

wrong. At the time of the report, it had not yet been ascert ai ned that the

Moroc can young men had actu ally thre a te ned the staff; the full facts of the

matter still had to be sorted out. In the opinion of the ombuds man, in such

cases the NOS should refer to "a group of young men of Moroccan descent,

suspected of…".

w Negativity

Rela ted to the concept of pluri for mity is the ratio between bad and good

news. It is a fact that both bad and good things happen in the world, so a

compre hen sive news bulle tin will cover both bad and good events. Or will

it not? Jour na lism is some ti mes repro ached for being nega ti vist.6) And the

jour na lis tic reflex, the ombuds man sket ches in Goed nieuws bestaat, ook

bij de NOS [Good news does exist, even with the NOS] (21 Decem ber

2007), then often takes news to be that "… what devi a tes from the ordi nary.

Ergo, good news is not that most people arrive home safely in the evening

but that only a few people have a traf fic acci dent". The ombuds man is often

asked why the NOS devo tes so little atten tion to good news. Although he

does not side with the jour na lis tic reflex, he does not agree with the

complai ners either. In his opinion, a suffi cient amount of good news is

offe red, even by the NOS. He under pins his state ment with tele text exam -

ples featu red at the time the column was writ ten.7) Depen ding on the

perspec tive of the viewer, many of these reports consti tute good news, Van

Brussel claims.

Within the frame work of nega ti vism, viewers also complain about the

cove rage of the worldwide finan cial crisis this past year. One complai ner

wrote: "You are only sending out gloomy messa ges, that is why nobody sees

a way ahead any more" (17 Octo ber 2008). The ombuds man acknow led ges

the role of the media in the global crisis of confi dence but opines that this is

good, as long as the media plays the role of infor ma tion provi der rather

than "parti ci pant". Accor ding to Van Brus sel, the cove rage is suffi ciently

balan ced; the problem is its level of diffi culty (3 Octo ber 2008). Van Brus sel

feels that the editors need to make an effort time and again to explain

complex issues in a simple manner, just like they do with the CBS studies

referred to above.

w Other topics…

A jour na lis tic theme rela ted to tele vi sion jour na lism in parti cu lar is the

problem of shoc king images. Although viewers complain to the ombuds -

man about unple a sant images in the TV news, in two of his columns he

indi ca tes that in his opinion, the NOS news can bear the scru tiny of criti -

cism. "Anyone watching the NOS news needs to realise that cheer ful news is

in short supply." (20 June 2008).

The TV news is a seri ous current affairs programme, accor ding to the

ombuds man, with little room for fun and games. His scant enthu si asm for

the NOS indul ging in frivo li ties was evident from his column about Prin -

cess Mabel and Wiki pe dia (20 Septem ber 2007). He regret ted that the

editors opted to "focus on their fun side rather than show their infor ma tive

side". Although he expec ted to (have to) write more about frivo li ties, this

subject has not crop ped up since September 2007.8)

The NOS format is discus sed in two columns. One column (18 July

2008) deals with one of the most persis tent complaints, viz. the sound.

Older viewers in parti cu lar tend to be annoyed by the volume of the leaders.

The ombuds man explains that the back ground music to the short news

flas hes has been drop ped again for the sake of audi bi lity. The leaders howe -

ver will be conti nued because of their atten tion-raising func tion. With

regard to the physi cal discom fort of the high volume he refers to the manual

of the tele vi sion set, as recom men ded by an audi o lo gist. An earlier column

(5 Septem ber 2008) discus ses the radi cal reform of Radio 1. He makes no

secret of his conser va tive incli na ti ons and his fear of the "more light-hear -

ted, more varied, faster and more popu lar appro ach". Although he gives an

exten sive shot across the bows, he shuns an offi cial judge ment because he

belie ves that would be prema ture. He does venture one opinion: ironi cally,

it is the leaders he has qualms about because in his eyes, they contri bute

little to the recog ni sa bi lity of the Radio 1 news. He promi ses to return to

this subject before the end of 2008.

The program ming of the nati o nal station is addres sed when complai -

ners express their surprise at the fact that during the Euro pean foot ball

cham pi ons hip the eight o'clock news was broad cast on chan nel two instead

of chan nel one. Van Brus sel seizes this oppor tu nity to eluci date the nati o nal

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 133

stati on's over all chan nel co-ordi na tion policy. Although the editor-in-chief

regrets the trans fer, the NOS media direc tor and the chair of the Dutch

nati o nal station point out that it does not reflect any rank ing. The column

is more expla na tory in nature than judge men tal. Van Brus sel deems it a

"surmountable problem".

In short, the ombuds man's columns picture the func ti o ning of the NOS

against a wide spec trum of jour na lis tic themes. Some themes gene rate

more inte rest than others. Neut ra lity and news wor thi ness, in parti cu lar,

are discus sed repe a tedly in the columns. This indi ca tes that the ombuds -

man (either inten ti o nally or unin ten ti o nally) targets the NOS's primary

task: infor ming a gene ral audience. Preci sely because the NOS intends to be

a primary source of infor ma tion for the widest possi ble audience, it is

impe ra tive for the infor ma tion to be as neutral and newsworthy as possible.

Van Brus sel tackles both abstract and concrete aspects of the jour na lis tic

process. Abstract aspects are discus sed in columns on, for exam ple, jour na -

lis tic prin ci ples like neutra lity, privacy and look ing at matters from all sides.

Concrete aspects come up in columns on, for exam ple, NOS program ming,

the manner of subtit ling and the TV news format. Although most columns

pertain to speci fic NOS publi ca ti ons, some are marked by a more gene ral

nature. This distinc tion is addres sed in the next paragraph.

The diver sity in his columns, with empha ses rela ted to the tasks the NOS

is char ged with, indi ca tes that the ombuds man's columns contri bute to the

trans pa rency of the NOS. How the acti ons taken by the NOS are rende red

trans pa rent or explai ned and how criti cism and accoun ta bi lity are accom -

mo da ted will also be consi de red in the paragraph below.

2. How critical is the ombudsman?

w Considerations in determining "criticality"

Now that we are aware of the diver sity in content of the columns, the ques -

tion arises as to what judge ments are passed on the func ti o ning of the NOS.

After all, in order to describe the func ti o ning of an ombuds man we would

also like to know how criti cal an ombuds man is with respect to "his"

medium. In our opinion, the clari fy ing and correc tive effect of an ombuds -

man is first and fore most found in the nega tive asses sments expres sed

about a news medium. Howe ver, posi tive asses sments also tie in with a

criti cal atti tude in an ombuds man. A medium does not just "take turns on

two wheels", it can also adopt a well-consi de red appro ach with regard to

jour na lis tic dilem mas. This well-consi de red appro ach can also be

discussed by an ombudsman.

That is why we will inter pret the word "criti cal" in two ways. First, in the

sense of "criti ci sing" or "ventu ring a nega tive opinion on somet hing".

Second, in the sense of "discer ning" or "ventu ring a well-foun ded opinion

on somet hing", whether it be nega tive or posi tive. The "criti ca lity" of the

ombuds man is deter mi ned on the basis of his willing ness to pass nega tive

judge ments on the NOS and the manner in which his nega tive and posi tive

asses sments are under pin ned. Thus, for each column we deter mine

whether the ombuds man is passing a posi tive or a nega tive judge ment on

the NOS and what sour ces he uses to underpin that judgement.

w Explanation, reflection and condemnation

An analy sis of judge ments passed by the ombuds man reve als that not all the

columns contain an asses sment of the acti ons taken by the NOS. Regu larly,

columns rather qualify as expla na ti ons and reflec ti ons. In expla na tory

columns, the ombuds man eluci da tes the jour na lis tic process of the NOS or

the context of that process. Most of these columns are in response to ques ti -

ons posed by viewers: why does the NOS do this or that? The column of 22

August 2008 explains why the Olym pics broad casts could not be viewed via

the Inter net abroad. Agree ments between the Olym pic Commit tee and the

Euro pean Broad cas ting Union stipu la ted that broad cas ters could only

show their foot age within their own terri tory. Thus, the NOS could not use

the Inter net as a plat form due to its trans boun dary scope. This is somet hing

that cannot be blamed on the NOS and the ombuds man explains the ins

and outs. A simi lar situ a tion arises with regard to the ques tion of why the

NOS reruns the Euro pean foot ball cham pi ons hip matches on the Inter net

(27 June 2008). In Waarom verhuist het Jour naal voor het EK? [Why is the

TV news making way for the Euro pean Cham pi ons hip?] (6 June 2008),

Van Brus sel reve als that the NOS deci ded to broad cast its news on chan nel

two while the Dutch team compe ted in the Euro pean cham pi ons hips. The

media editor and the chan nel co-ordi na tor backed this deci sion but the

gene ral editors disag reed. The response of the editor-in-chief, "This is

(unfor tu na tely) not up to me" suggests that the NOS editors are not to

blame. The ombuds man thus explains the matter to the complainers,

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 135

without making evaluative statements regarding the NOS editors.

Reflec tive columns do not address concrete NOS acti vi ties either, but

speci fic stand ards obser ved by the NOS or jour na lism as a whole. An exam -

ple is the column entit led Moet de NOS al het nieuws melden? (2) [Should

the NOS report all the news? (2)] (10 July 2008), which deals with the Depla

issue. The ques tion impli citly under ly ing this column is: should jour na lists

devote atten tion to a rumour about an alder man's sexual acti vi ties? Van

Brus sel descri bes how the rumour was disclo sed on the website

GeenStijl.nl, and how it was subse quently adop ted by many news media.

With a slight note of pity, he states that several years ago such a rumour

would not even have made the press because it would not have been

deemed news worthy. Firstly because it invol ves private matters, secondly

because it is a rumour and not (yet) a fact. Remar ka bly, Van Brus sel fails to

address the atten tion the NOS has devo ted to the matter, even though it

could easily have been done.

Anot her exam ple is Nekschot: de vlag en de lading [Nekschot: sailing

and false colours] (23 May 2005). A brief evalu a tion of a tele text report is

follo wed by a discus sion of the commo tion arisen in jour na lis tic circles in

regard to the arrest of cartoon ist Nekschot. The ombuds man seizes this case

to vent his opinion of the discus sion on free dom of speech. For exam ple, he

disag rees with those who claim that jour na lists or cartoon ists should be

allo wed more scope than non-jour na lists. His recom men da tion is gene ral

and does not expli citly refer to the NOS: "Once jour na lists have surpas sed

their own exci te ment, they should publish on the real purport of the issue."

Other reflec ti ons pertai ned to, for exam ple, the use of polls (26 Octo ber

2007), jour na lis tic accoun ta bi lity (12 Octo ber 2007 and 28 Decem ber

2007), making stands (30 May 2008) or web logs (14 March 2008).

The remain der of the columns is mani festly evalu a tive in nature in rela -

tion to the acti vi ties pursued by the NOS. Evalu a tive columns also contain

expla na tory and reflec tive elements but differ from expla na tory and reflec -

tive columns in their evalu a tive comments on NOS acti vi ties.

Incidence of type of column

Type of column Number

Explanatory 6

Reflective 11

Evaluative 46

The fact that not all the columns contain a judge ment on concrete NOS

acti vi ties is by no means a disqua li fi ca tion of the ombuds man. After all, it is

also his expli cit task to comment in a gene ral sense on jour na lis tic issues

provo king discus sion in profes si o nal circles or society. It is, there fore, in

line with the ombuds man's statute that a substan tial propor tion of his

columns be compo sed of expla na ti ons and reflec ti ons without speci fic

assessments of the NOS.

w Judgements in the columns

In most of the evalu a tive columns, the ombuds man passes an expli cit

judge ment on the NOS. At times it is nega tive, for exam ple on 19 Septem -

ber 2008: "The editor-in-chief should have noti ced that acknow led ging the

source is essen tial in this case". At other times, his judge ment is posi tive, for

exam ple on 22 Febru ary 2008 in his column on broad cas ting shoc king

images: "Both broad casts could bear the scru tiny of criti cism." Some ti mes

the ombuds man passes an indi rect judge ment, such as "the complai ner is

right". The judge ment is reve a led upon further consi de ra tion of the

complaint and relevant standards, if any.

Iden ti fy ing the judge ment in the columns is hinde red by the fact that

the ombuds man's state ments or his sour ces are not always unequi vo cal. It is

not uncom mon for nega tive and posi tive judge ments to go hand in hand,

or for posi tive judge ments to be anno ta ted with an addi ti o nal criti cal

comment. For exam ple, in the column on the cove rage of the PKK, the

ombuds man notes with appro val that the cove rage is "factual and correct"

but he disap pro ves of the vari a ble inter pre ta tion of the PKK. With regard to

the NOS cove rage of Prin cess Mabel Wisse Smit, Van Brus sel obser ves that

the report did not convey any wrong impres si ons, yet it was too frivo lous

(20 Septem ber 2008). On a few occa si ons, a nega tive judge ment is miti ga -

ted by an under stan ding expla na tion: "All those concer ned hope that such a

slip of the tongue will not occur, espe ci ally consi de ring the 'sen si tive poli ti -

cal issue' the complai ner refers to, but human errors cannot always be

precluded under pressure." (1 February 2008).

The NOS has many diffe rent edito rial offi ces and products. Hence,

judge ments on the NOS are rare. NOS News edito rial offi ces can be divi ded

accor ding to content (nati o nal, inter na ti o nal, sports, etc.), programme

(eight o'clock news, chil dren's news, NOS head li nes), type of medium

(tele vi sion, radio, tele text) and time of broad cast (morning news, daily

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 137

news, eight o'clock news). This diver sity allows the ombuds man more

leeway (and crea tes more work for him) in forming his judge ment on the

func ti o ning of the NOS. When dealing with a complaint on a parti cu lar

type of medium (such as the TV news), the ombuds man some ti mes refers

to other types of medium such as radio and tele text. Conse quently, he

some ti mes condemns the appro ach follo wed by the one staff, whereas that

of the other staff meets with his appro val. For exam ple, on 14 Decem ber

2007 Van Brus sel obser ves that rele vant diffe ren ti a ti ons were lacking in the

tele vi sion news and that "both sides should have been heard", while the

Radio 1 news did nuance its cove rage. Refe ren ces to other edito rial offi ces

which, in Van Brus sel's opinion, have done well in rela tion to the complaint

have not been taken into account in the categorisation of the judgements.

Incidence of type of judgement in columns9

Judgement Number

Negative 20

Both negative and positive 9

Positive 17

Nega tive judge ments occur rela ti vely frequently in the ombuds man's

columns. We inter pret this as a seri ous indi ca tor of the ombuds man's criti -

cal atti tude: in 20 columns he passes a distinct nega tive judge ment on the

acti ons of the NOS. In anot her nine columns he makes nega tive state ments

in combi na tion with posi tive comments. The number of purely nega tive

judge ments outstrips the number of purely posi tive judge ments.

All things consi de red, the ombuds man does not mince his words. In his

eyes, the editors are some ti mes "head strong" (4 Janu ary 2008 and 25 July

2008), "arbi trary" (7 Decem ber 2007), "apply ing double stand ards" (18

April 2008) or their cove rage is "unba lan ced" (25 Septem ber 2008), "over -

sim pli fied" (14 Decem ber 2007) or "just plain wrong" (29 Febru ary 2008).

The NOS editors cannot be accu sed of an overly defen sive atti tude either;

witness, for exam ple, the reac ti ons "Somet hing obvi ously went wrong here"

(19 Septem ber 2008, A); "The writer of the email has a good point. […] We

should not have omit ted to acknow ledge who had provi ded the infor ma -

tion." (19 Septem ber 2008, B); "The inter na ti o nal editors promise to mend

their ways" (11 Janu ary 2008); "We should not have used the name Kurdis -

138 THE NEWS OMBUDSMAN

tan" (11 Janu ary 2008); or "The repor ter should not have chosen a posi tion

in such an express manner" (25 September 2008).

w Use of sources

The second aspect we use to deter mine whether the ombuds man is criti cal

is the sour ces he quotes in his analy sis of the case. Sour ces inten ded to

intro duce the subject (in most cases, complaints) are not taken into

account. In his columns, Van Brus sel uses reac ti ons from editors or other

NOS parties invol ved, the jour na lis tic code of the NOS, other media and

experts.

Incidence of sources used

Sources Number of columns10)

Reactions from editors 41

Factual references to house journalistic code 8

References to other media 12

w Editors

The frequency of reac ti ons from the editors is in line with the ombuds -

man's task: it is his duty to assess the acti ons taken by the NOS. It does him

credit that in doing so he not only goes by his own obser va ti ons, but also

enqui res after the consi de ra ti ons of the jour na lists respon si ble. In some

cases, the ombuds man sides with the editors when they speak out but there

are just as well exam ples of his contra dic ting the editors. The editors' retort

is not "sacred". Conse quently, a quote from the editors does not say anyt -

hing about the judge ment the ombuds man will even tu ally pass. The

ombuds man, there fore, does not act as an echo or mouthpiece of the

editors; if need be, he publi cly oppo ses them. This is indi ca tive of a criti cal

atti tude on the ombudsman's part.

More o ver, the frequency with which editors are allo wed to retort is an

indi ca tor for the justi fy ing effect of his columns. The ombuds man is inde -

pen dent and bears no rela tion to the editors. That is why by defi ni tion it is

impos si ble for the ombuds man himself to account for the NOS. Giving

account is somet hing the editors can only effect them sel ves and, judging by

the columns, they seem to do so quite regularly.

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 139

w Experts

The ombuds man himself is an expert in the field of jour na lism but in

complex or highly speci a list cases he some ti mes relies on the opinion of

experts. Here too, it does the ombuds man credit that he does not go by his

own obser va ti ons alone. He provi des reac ti ons from experts both with

appro ving and disap pro ving judgements.

The experts quoted include Mr Van Donse laar (with regard to the alle -

ged leftism); Mr Zürcher, Profes sor of Turkish Lang u age and Lite ra ture

(with regard to the PKK cove rage); Mr Van Holsteyn, Profes sor of Elec to ral

Studies and researcher Slager (with regard to polls); Profes sor emeri tus Van

Ster ken burg (with regard to the use of lang u age by the NOS); Joris Luyen -

dijk (with regard to the accoun ta bi lity of jour na lism); the KNMI [Royal

Nether lands Mete o ro lo gi cal Insti tute] and Rijks wa ter staat [Depart ment of

Water ways and Public Works] (with regard to the weat her alert);

Middle-East experts Ruud Hoff and Radi Suudi (with regard to the

Israeli-Pales ti nian conflict); Ben Knapen, Profes sor of Media and Quality

(with regard to media wisdom); audi o lo gists (with regard to the volume of

the leaders); and Profes sor Heer tje (with regard to the news value of CBS

studies).

w The journalistic code

The NOS code is expli citly addres sed in eight columns. This does not imply

that jour na lis tic stand ards are absent in all other cases, but it is rather pecu -

liar that the ombuds man hardly ever refers to the code. After all, one of the

objec ti ves of the ombuds man, as laid down in the statute, is to "improve the

quality of the news cove rage by the NOS by testing its reports against the

NOS code". Although this objec tive does not entail that the said testing

must be public and allow insight, the statute does contain a spirit of trans -

pa rency and accoun ta bi lity. Even though this prima rily applies to the NOS,

working in a trans pa rent manner and giving account would also do the

ombuds man honour. Publi cly refer ring to the code in his testing could,

there fore, be a posi tive indi ca tor of the perfor mance of the ombuds man.

This is reflec ted to a rela ti vely limi ted extent in his columns up to now.

w Other media

In thir teen columns Van Brus sel refers to other media. This refe rence

usually plays a compa ra tive role in deter mi ning his judge ment of the NOS.

How have fellow media dealt with the matter and what do we think of that?

These refe ren ces are remar ka ble, as Van Brus sel distinctly argues that the

NOS should by all means ignore other media. In his column NOS kan zijn

eigen koers varen [NOS can steer its own course] (31 Octo ber 2008), the

ombuds man reite ra tes this view: "Faithful readers know that this is a

hobby horse of mine. In their reports, jour na lists all too often hide behind

their colle a gues at other media. 'It is alre ady out in the open, so we must

follow suit.' That is nonsense." The fact that he himself refers to other

media does not tally with that view.

In his column on the alle ged leftism of the NOS and the cove rage of a

NVB [Nati o na list People's Move ment] demon stra tion (28 Septem ber

2007), he refers to other media to substan ti ate that it had not been veri fied

that the demon stra tion had been disrup ted by leftists or other wise: "The

NOS called them leftist, other media such as the Tele graaf newspa per stuck

to anti-fascists; papers like Trouw and the Alge meen Dagblad refer red to

extreme left." In the column Krakers hebben recht op weder hoor [Squat ters

have a right to be heard] (9 Novem ber 2008) he criti ci ses the appro ach

follo wed by the NOS. Howe ver, in a short comment he refers to the cove -

rage by other media. With regard to the Parool he remarks that "squat ters

had put up life-thre a te ning construc ti ons" in order to obstruct the evic tion

of premi ses at the Kerk straat. With regard to the Tele graaf, he comments

that this paper opened with the report that the squat ters had "attemp ted to

murder" the police, which had promp ted the CDA party to draft a private

member's bill. He claims that all the media he quoted (he also refer red to

the ANP [Nether lands Nati o nal News Agency]) failed to present the squat -

ters' side. He does not eluci date why he chose to quote these media. If anyt -

hing, this conveys the impres sion that he puts forward the references "in

mitigation" for the NOS.

For his judge ment on the NOS cove rage of Wilders and the Queen's

Christ mas speech (25 Janu ary 2008), he conduc ted a compa ra tive study of

the cove rage by the NOS, the ANP, the AD, NRC Handels blad and the Gooien

Eemlan der. Here, too, he fails to clarify the purpose of his compa ri son.

He obser ves that there are no funda men tal diffe ren ces between the vari ous

media with regard to the news about Geert Wilders. He leaves aside whether

he finds that good or bad.

The most remar ka ble refe rence to other media is found in his (first)

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 141

column on the cove rage of the Dutch Tanja at the Farc. Because the Colom -

bian paper El Tiempo had alre ady reve a led the iden tity of the Dutch

woman, Van Brus sel saw no need for the NOS to be reti cent about her iden -

tity. As alre ady said, this argu ment is at odds with his hobby horse sket ched

above. In short, the ombuds man seems a tad oppor tu nis tic when it comes

to refe ren ces to other media. He is firm in his belief, but does not always live

up to his principles.

w Critical columns to promote the transparency and accountability

of the NOS?

The ombuds man's statute menti ons the "trans pa rency and accoun ta bi lity"

of the NOS. Now the ques tion arises: do his columns actu ally contri bute to

the trans pa rency and accoun ta bi lity of the NOS? Last year's columns

indeed seem to suggest so.

The jour na lis tic proces ses and products of the NOS are discus sed in

light of vari ous jour na lis tic themes. As a result, the perfor mance of the NOS

comes up in all its bearings. With the ombuds man's publi ca ti ons, the NOS

at least enables the public to become acquain ted with the nature of the jour -

na lis tic process. Thus, the ombuds man's columns contri bute to the trans -

pa rency of the NOS.

In addi tion, we can conclude that the ombuds man's columns have

struck a criti cal note over the period studied. This conclu sion is prima rily

based on the ombuds man's willing ness to vent nega tive opini ons on the

NOS in his columns and the manner in which he under pins his posi tive and

nega tive judge ments.

His scanty refe ren ces to the jour na lis tic code calls for some comment.

Expec ting a higher frequency would be in line with the task with which the

ombuds man is char ged. The column format offers suffi cient oppor tu ni ties

for the ombuds man to incre ase this frequency. His refe ren ces to acti ons

taken by other media should also be more expli cit. His usual manner raises

ques ti ons and provo kes the suspi cion that he is apply ing double standards.

In our opinion, giving account is an acti vity incum bent on the NOS

itself, requi ring the NOS to reflect on its own acti ons. The role of the

ombuds man is purely to medi ate in this respect. After all, his inde pen dent

posi tion prevents him from giving account for the NOS. In the majo rity of

his columns, jour na lists or editors-in-chief explain their acti vi ties. These

reac ti ons are never isola ted comments but relate to complaints or ques ti ons

from viewers. Thus, the reac ti ons from jour na lists consti tute a form of

giving account: they provide a detai led expla na tion of their acti ons. At

times, they also acknow ledge blame. By their criti cal eluci da tion of the

jour na lis tic process and the frequent retorts from editors, his columns are

found to contri bute to the accountability of the NOS.

Despite this obser va tion, prudence is called for when expres sing satis -

fac tion. It is not up to the research ers to assess whether the contri bu ti ons

ascert ai ned actu ally conform to the trans pa rency and accoun ta bi lity envi -

sa ged by the NOS. In addi tion, we empha sise that our findings are based on

an analy sis of the contents of the columns. The correc tive effect of these

columns and the editors' percep tion of the ombuds man may be subjects for

follow-up studies. The study at hand is prima rily inten ded to point out the

exis tence of publi ca ti ons by a formally inde pen dent party syste ma ti cally

and criti cally exami ning the actions taken by a news medium.

The journalistic code of the NOS

As an inte gral element in the nati o nal chan nel, the NOS makes it its aim to

be the primary source of infor ma tion in the field of news, sports and events,

in order to assist the Dutch popu la tion in asses sing deve lop ments across

the globe and deci ding a course of action.

To that end, the NOS obser ves the highest jour na lis tic stand ards with

regard to balan ced repor ting, caution and care, reli a bi lity, inde pen dence,

pluri for mity and impar ti a lity.

The NOS seeks to make this infor ma tion acces si ble through all avai la ble

media and for all secti ons of society.

The NOS is free in its selec tion of news; its publi ca ti ons are not gover ned by

inte rests other than those of the public.

The NOS sepa ra tes facts and opini ons, consi ders both sides of an issue and

avoids biased repor ting.

The NOS gathers infor ma tion openly and above board; jour na lists intro -

duce them sel ves as such, refrain from paying infor mers and protect their

sour ces if requi red.

The NOS does not discri mi nate and reports ethnic origins, nati o na lity,

race, reli gion, gender and sexual incli na tion of groups and persons only if

this is requi red for a better under stan ding of the news item.

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 143

The NOS respects the privacy of persons in the news; any infring ement

must be in reaso na ble propor tion to the inte rest of publi ca tion and the role

and/or posi tion of the person in the news.

The NOS accepts embar gos that bolster the quality of the news cove rage

and are not impo sed unila te rally.

The NOS reports truthfully. Viewers and liste ners must be able to form a

realis tic and veri fi a ble picture of the facts.

The NOS takes complaints seri ously and recti fies frankly.

The NOS is an inde pen dent, publi cly funded news orga ni sa tion. The NOS

sets store by a trans pa rent method of working and gives account of its acti -

ons.

This NOS code is based on the missi ons of the Neder landse Publieke

Omroep [Nether lands Nati o nal Chan nel] and the NOS, the "Code of

Conduct for Jour na lists" of the Inter na ti o nal Fede ra tion of Jour na lists

(1954/1986), the "Code of Conduct for Dutch Jour na lists" of the Nether -

lands Society of Editors-in-Chief (1995) and the "Guide li nes of the Press

Coun cil" (2007). (source: www.nos.nl/ombudsman)

Notes:

1). According to the current ombudsman, the applicability of the word column is

doubtful (personal communication by Van Brussel, 1 October 2008). Across the

board, Van Brussel's online items are systematic and neutral in tone; they show

little analogy with the journalistic style conventions of the column. Although

"publication" might be a better term, we use the word columns on account of

uniformity with the preceding chapter. The NOS web site, incidentally, speaks of

columns as well.

2). Personal communication, 20 November 2008.

3). The committee is made up of Chair Tom Kamlag (former NOVA editor-in-chief

and former net co-ordinator), Fieneke Diamand (former international editor,

VPRO radio), Auke Kok (former reporter for HP/de Tijd, former chief Radio 1

news), Petra ter Doest (former subeditor, Elsevier. She replaced the late Johan

Olde Kalter) and management secretary Anne Kornman.

4). The following columns are involved: Zedendelinquenten en korte berichten [Sex

offenders and short reports] (19 September 2008); Het EK: moet de NOS juichen

voor Turkije? [The European Championships: should the NOS be cheering for

Turkey? (27 June 2008) and Nekschot, de vlag en de lading [Nekschot, sailing and

false colours] (23 May 2008). The columns on Wilders' news (18 January 2008

and 25 January 2008) form a diptych; for that reason, they will be considered as

one. This yields a total of 64 texts to be analysed. This also affects the frequencies

144 THE NEWS OMBUDSMAN

of types and judgements discussed later.

5). The Nijmegen alderman Depla was discredited for allegedly having sex with a

councillor in the city hall bicycle shed.

6). Cf. (27 June 2008): Waarom zeurt sportverslaggever Bert Maalderink zo door in de

interviews met Marco van Basten? [Why does sports reporter Bert Maalderink

keep nagging in his interviews with Marco van Basten?

7). On Monday 17 December, 13.25 hrs, teletext page 101 read: Verhofstadt forms

interim government; Kesler apologises to police; First skating competition on

natural ice this Wednesday; ANWB opposes higher speeding fines; Radical

redevelopment of Amsterdam city centre; Netherlands among richest three in

EU; German assistance in reconstruction of Uruzgan; Condemned Saudi woman

reprieved; Sarkozy presents new girlfriend.

8). On 14 November 2008, outside the scope of this study, the ombudsman

condemned an overly light-hearted item on an alleged baby boom in the

Bommelerwaard area, nine months after a prolonged power failure.

9). Some columns do not feature judgements, others discuss multiple topics and may,

therefore, feature multiple judgements.

10). For each column we determined what type of source was referenced rather than

the incidence of particular types in a column.

Transparency, criticism and accountability? 145

Summary, conclusions and recommendations

Huub Evers, Harmen Groenhart & Jan van Groesen

Summary

The prece ding chap ters exhi bit a wide variety of news ombud smen and

readers' editors, across the globe and also within the Nether lands. The lite -

ra ture and respon ses to the ONO ques ti on naire indi cate that at least six

cate go ries can be disting uis hed:

§ The independent ombudsman or readers' editor with his own

statute

§ The ombudsman or readers' editor without a statute

§ The ombudsman or readers' editor who does this job "on the side"

§ The ombudsman or readers' editor who (also) has other duties in

the field of marketing and PR

§ The lawyer who attempts to prevent claims for damages and court

cases or Press Council procedures

§ The ombudsman stationed at the media in order to monitor and

wherever necessary censor journalistic content

This means that the cate go ri sa tion formu la ted by Deuze and Van Dalen in

their studies (2005 and 2006), viz. a dicho tomy between on the one hand,

an ombuds man who keeps the editors alert in jour na lis tic-ethi cal terms

and who tests jour na lists' acti ons and products against the stand ards of

profes si o nal ethics, on the other, an ombuds man (frequently termed

readers' editor) who is prima rily char ged with PR and marke ting duties,

consti tu tes a simpli fi ca tion of reality.

The survey of ombud smen and readers' editors in the Nether lands

shows that we too have ombud smen and readers' editors in all shapes and

sizes. With and without statu tes. With and without their own columns.

Jour na lis tic flies in the oint ment and assis tants to the circu la tion and

Summary, conclusions and recommendations 147

marke ting depart ments. Expoun ders of edito rial proce du res and orga ni -

sers of readers' acti vi ties. Full-time and part-time.

The analy ses of the columns by the readers' editor of the Rotter dams

Dagblad and the ombud smen of the Volks krant and the NOS reveal marked

diffe ren ces in appro ach and duties. These diffe ren ces result in a distinct

contri bu tion to the trans pa rency and accoun ta bi lity of a news medium on

the part of the ombuds man.

The readers' editor of the Rotter dams Dagblad is predo mi nantly the

expe rien ced jour na list explai ning edito rial prac ti ces, routi nes and rules. He

is less of a house critic and if anyt hing, he formu la tes his criti cism in highly

reti cent terms. In his own opinion, provi ding expla na ti ons of the daily

prac ti ces at a newspa per should be a key element in his duties. He recei ves

more ques ti ons than complaints from readers. More o ver, it should be kept

in mind that the readers of the Rotter dams Dagblad consti tute a diffe rent

target group than those of, for exam ple, the Volks krant or NRC Handels blad.

In addi tion, the Volks krant alre ady has a tradi tion with regard to the posi -

tion of ombuds man, while the Rotter dams Dagblad initi a ted this role when

Kees Haak took up office.

The ombuds man of the Volks krant, on the other hand, is a critic rather

than an expoun der. He is the fly in the oint ment of the editors, who are

gover ned by the convic tion that the editors of a quality newspa per should

set and observe high stand ards in their day-to-day acti vi ties. Provi ding

expla na ti ons is prima rily the respon si bi lity of the editors them sel ves. He

argues in favour of grea ter trans pa rency and accoun ta bi lity for jour na lis tic

choi ces: explai ning how the editors arri ved at a parti cu lar appro ach and

why they made a parti cu lar choice.

The NOS ombuds man appe ars to occupy yet anot her posi tion. He regu -

larly adopts a criti cal atti tude towards jour na lis tic proces ses and products

but also explains how these proces ses run their course. Thus, he enables the

editors to give account, as with the NOS, more so than at the Rotter dams

Dagblad and Volks krant, virtu ally all of the ombuds man's columns are

struc tu red in accor dance with the stand ard diagram of complaint - respon -

ses by the editors - comments - judge ment. This format forces him to syste -

ma ti cally enun ci ate the complaints, editors' respon ses, asses sment crite ria

and his judge ments. In addi tion, a substan tial part of the columns is expla -

na tory and reflec tive rather than judge men tal in nature. The NOS ombuds -

man is criti cal and contri bu tes to both the trans pa rency and the

accoun ta bi lity of the medium.

The ombud smen also differ in terms of visi bi lity and acces si bi lity. In

this regard, we will limit oursel ves to the diffe ren ces between the Volks krant

and the NOS, because the Rotter dams Dagblad has mean while scrap ped its

posi tion of readers' editor. The Volks krant publis hes its ombuds man's

columns every Satur day, both on its web site and in the prin ted paper. The

columns of the NOS ombuds man are publis hed on the site and on tele text.

The NOS outstrips the Volks krant when it comes to online acces si bi lity of

the ombuds man. The NOS home page featu res a clear link to the ombuds -

man; the Volks krant has "conce a led" its ombuds man among other blog gers

on the online opini ons page.

Inte gra ting the ombuds man on a web site can provide visi tors with the

oppor tu nity to respond. Visi tors to the Volks krant site can not just respond

to the ombuds man's publi ca ti ons but also forward digi tal recom men da ti -

ons to other visi tors. The publi ca ti ons by the NOS ombuds man have no

public response opti ons. Discus si ons pertai ning to his columns are confi -

ned to the perso nal commu ni ca ti ons between the ombuds man and those

who complain. Anot her stan ding prac tice at the Volks krant is to place the

ombuds man's section on the agenda of the gene ral editors' Monday

morning meeting, during which the rami fi ca ti ons for the edito rial policy

are discus sed, if requi red.

The NOS ombuds man has a broa der spec trum of jour na lis tic acti vi ties

to keep track of than both of his colle a gues: he needs to keep an eye on

radio, tele vi sion, tele text and the web site. This could imply that the NOS

ombuds man comes across more mista kes, but it also enables the ombuds -

man to point to other edito rial offi ces that, in his opinion, have not made

that same mistake. Such cases stress the impor tance of adop ting

cross-media stra te gies by the NOS.

The fore going indi ca ted that the posi tion of news ombuds man or readers'

editor is under pres sure. It iden ti fied three trends as causing this pres sure.

First of all the shift from moral respon si bi lity to legal liabi lity. In some

cases, the media prefer a lawyer to an ombuds man with a back ground in

jour na lism. In addi tion, some are convin ced that ombud smen are obso lete

in an era of blogs and other inter ac tive opti ons. Blog gers would be in a

better posi tion to keep editors alert in terms of ethics and jour na lists keep

Summary, conclusions and recommendations 149

in touch with their audience directly by email. More o ver, and this is the

third trend, it is much chea per than having an ombuds man, virtu ally

always a senior jour na list on one of the top salary scales. In several cases,

gene ral editors feel that such expe rien ced jour na lists would be of better use

at other posts. In their opinion, this would be more effec tive in bolste ring

quality than critical comments from an ombudsman.

Conclusions

In this study, we consi der that we have made a reaso na ble case for arguing

that, despite the trends outli ned, there are amply suffi cient points of depar -

ture to conclude that the news ombuds man contri bu tes to foste ring jour -

na lis tic quality. Once jour na lists are aware that some one is moni to ring

their work every day, criti cally and publi cly (through his column) and that

complaints from news consu mers about the jour na lis tic product are taken

seri ously, this will deci dedly gene rate a quality impulse.

To news media that wish to expand their credi bi lity with the public and

rein force their jour na lis tic quality, the ombuds man is one of the most

pre-eminent instru ments. It seems likely that media will gain in reli a bi lity

and soli dity if the jour na lis tic policy process were made acces si ble to the

public.

A shift, if any, in the posi tion of news ombuds man, viz. from house critic to

PR offi cer or even legal advi ser, will not be condu cive to jour na lis tic

self-regu la tion. The self-regu la ting effect of an ombuds man prima rily

encom pas ses the publis hing of substan ti a ted judge ments on jour na lis tic

proces ses and products.

We take a posi tive view of blogs and sites set up to improve contacts

between the media and news consu mers but in our opinion, such opti ons

cannot be a substi tute for the ombuds man instru ment. Accoun ta bi lity and

self-regu la tion are promo ted by the medi a's public analy sis and correc tion

of mista kes. In this respect, ombud smen and readers' editors can incre ase

the trans pa rency and accoun ta bi lity of media organisations.

Deter mi ning the degree of inde pen dence of a news ombuds man and its

effect on his posi tion is diffi cult, even in cases in which that inde pen dence

has been laid down in an indi vi dual statute. Many ombud smen, also those

with their own statu tes, indi cate that they are accoun ta ble to the gene ral

editors or the mana ge ment. This study seems to justify the impres sion that

truly inde pen dent ombud smen, criti cally asses sing their medi a's own jour -

na lis tic product, repre sent a small minority.

The recent sharp fall in the number of news ombud smen, espe ci ally in

the United States, is at odds with the trend that modern society is calling on

the media to give more account and exer cise more open ness regar ding their

jour na lis tic policy process. This is an alar ming disco very, consi de ring the

fact that in his plans for the new press policy Minis ter Plas terk expres ses his

satis fac tion about the appoint ment of ombud smen or readers' editors by

news media (cf. http://www.minocw.nl/docu men ten/67791.pdf). Firstly,

we do not share his satis fac tion at the number of ombud smen and readers'

editors, secondly, we believe that the minis ter igno res the funda men tal

diffe rence between inde pen dent ombud smen/readers' editors and their

colle a gues, who lack an inde pen dent status at their medium.

Recommendations

Ideally, the ombuds man is a jour na list or media expert asses sing the jour -

na lis tic product on a full-time basis, as a house critic, rather than opera ting

as a PR offi cer in order to try and earn the commit ment of the public.

In order to remove the exis ting scep ti cism in society, a news ombuds man

needs to be able to operate fully inde pen dently. He has no connec ti ons with

the editors and does not parti ci pate in edito rial consul ta ti ons. He tests the

jour na lis tic products against prevai ling ethi cal stand ards and shares his

analy ses and unfet te red judge ment with the public.

When jour na lis tic proces ses and products are tested against ethi cal stand -

ards, these stand ards must be open and acces si ble to the public, for exam -

ple, through the medi a's web site. The ombuds man must specify such

stand ards in his publi ca ti ons. The ombuds man's own methods must also

be trans pa rent; his statute must be public.

Anot her essen tial requi re ment is that the ombuds man or readers' editor

must be easy to reach and appro ach. The newspa per or broad cas ting company

must publish his email address, telep hone number and office hours in a clearly

visi ble manner in the colop hon and/or on its home page.

Summary, conclusions and recommendations 151

In order to promote worldwide unifor mity in the role of news ombud -

smen, the ethi cal code (Mission State ment) of the Orga nizsa tion of News

Ombud smen (ONO) is recom men ded as the basis for his opera ti ons. It

should be noted in this respect that the unicity of each news medium,

mani fe sted in medium type and target group, can lead to cert ain adjust -

ments and supple ments to such a standard code.

Should an ombuds man prefe ra bly be some one from the edito rial ranks? Or

is an exter nal ombuds man given prefe rence? Some one who used to be a

(gene ral) editor has the advan tage of being fami liar with the edito rial

culture. An outsi der can adopt a fully inde pen dent posi tion, espe ci ally

when appoin ted for a limi ted period of time. That is why a struc ture invol -

ving an editor-in-chief publis hing a letter or respon ding to ques ti ons once

a week is not ideal. Although his recom men da ti ons carry more weight in

terms of policy than those of an ombuds man or readers' editor, there is no

inde pen dent and critical review.

Espe ci ally this inde pen dence is essen tial. In addi tion, the candi date must

be some one who is well acquain ted with jour na lis tic prac ti ces and the

prevai ling customs and stand ards. Some one who enjoys the confi dence of

the editors and the gene ral editors. In order to be credi ble in the eyes of the

readers or viewers, he will need to adopt a criti cal atti tude towards the

editors. This implies that he will conti nu ally test the jour na lis tic proces ses

and products against the jour na lis tic and ethi cal prin ci ples and stand ards

of the medium concerned.

The posi tion of a news ombuds man is still deli cate, parti cu larly among

fellow jour na lists at the ombuds man's own medium, who feel uncom for ta -

ble with a profes si o nal critic ("the copy police") of their product. Full inde -

pen dence of a news ombuds man can aid in inter nal acceptance.

The public needs to have low-thres hold access to some one who takes their

comments and complaints seri ously and who chal lenges the editors to give

chap ter and verse. This will contri bute greatly to the trans pa rency of jour -

na lism and self-regu la tion in the media sector.

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Appen di ces

Statute of the Readers' editor, Rotterdams Dagblad

By intro du cing the posi tion of readers' editor the gene ral editors of the

Rotter dams Dagblad aim to bolster the quality and accu racy of its editors,

thus impro ving the paper's credi bi lity. At the same time, it will give the

readers a better chan nel to commu ni cate with the editors.

The readers' editor deals with complaints and ques ti ons regar ding the

contents of the paper. He inde pen dently inves ti ga tes whether the editors

perform their duties in accor dance with gene ral stand ards of jour na lism:

¨ exer ci sing due care and cau ti on;

¨ ob ser ving the sti pu la ti ons of the De cla ra ti on of Intent (…) ap pen -

ded to the Edi tor's Sta tu te of the RD;

¨ ope ra ting in ac cor dan ce with the "Edi tor's ABC".

Up to now, the paper lacked an unequi vo cal method of dealing with

complaints regar ding its jour na lis tic content.

The readers' editor is an inde pen dent offi cer appoin ted for a period of one

year. His weekly section is submit ted to the gene ral editors befo re hand, but

for infor ma tion only. The editors it refers to also have the right to prior

inspec tion. In order to keep the image of inde pen dent inves ti ga tor unadul -

te ra ted, the readers' editor is not repla ced by a member of the edito rial staff

when absent due to illness or holi days.

The editors are requi red to provide the readers' editor with any rele vant

infor ma tion he may request. The readers' editor, on his part, under ta kes to

consi der the argu ments put forward by indi vi dual editors when dealing

with complaints from readers. The readers' editor draws up an auto no -

mous, impar tial judge ment.

Appen di ces 155

The readers' editor wishes to convince the readers of the Rotter dams

Dagblad that the editors appre ci ate their respon si bi lity for produ cing a

good newspa per. On behalf of the readers, the readers' editor moni tors this

process by chec king that the paper and/or the editors:

¨ do not hide be hind ig no ran ce;

¨ re frain from quo ting ano ny mous sour ces (un less this is ne ces sa ry

from a jour na lis tic point of view);

¨ re frain from gat he ring news in a man ner that shows signs of ar bi -

trariness;

¨ are pre pa red to ac know led ge and rec ti fy mis ta kes;

¨ are pre pa red to, even af ter sound jour na lis tic in ves ti ga ti ons ai med

at ela bo ra ting a to pic that pre sents it self, ad mit that it ac tu al ly does

not make a good story;

¨ re frain from cul tu ral pre ju di ces, ra cism, dis cri mi na ti on, sexism

and ot her dis pa ra ging de scrip ti ons of per sons or matters;

¨ are awa re that pre sen ta ti on and vi su a li sa ti on of the in for ma ti on

can also have ten den ti ous effects.

The readers' editor:

¨ Lis tens to res pon ding re a ders and en su res that he is easy to ap pro -

ach/reach;

¨ Ta kes each res pon ding re a der se ri ous ly, even if that re a der an noys

him;

¨ Replies to all ques ti ons and com ments;

¨ Assu res each re a der ad dres sing him that his "mes sa ge" will be pas -

sed on to the res pon si ble de part ment at the pa per (edi tors, ge ne ral

edi tors, pu blis her, management);

¨ Does not make any pro mi ses he can not ful fil;

¨ Be wa res of pre ju di ces;

¨ Is awa re that the pa per also be longs to the re a ders;

¨ Thinks and acts like an in ter nal, in de pen dent cri tic;

¨ Con si ders the ar gu ments put for ward by ge ne ral /in di vi du al edi -

tors in his jud ge ments;

¨ Con ducts au to no mous in ves ti ga ti ons ba sed on jour na lis tic-et hi -

cal insights.

The readers' editor is a member of the ONO (Orga ni za tion of Newspa per

Ombud smen). The email address of the readers' editor is inclu ded in the

RD colop hon.

Statute of the Ombudsman, Volkskrant

Appoint ment

The Editor-in-chief appoints the ombuds man for a term of two years. By

mutual consent this term can be exten ded for a maxi mum period of one year.

Inde pen dence

The ombuds man is auto no mous and does not take orders.

He reports directly to the Editor-in-chief.

He is not repla ced when absent due to illness or holi days.

Duties/respon si bi li ties

The ombuds man inves ti ga tes and deals with complaints regar ding the

edito rial content of the paper, with the excep tion of commen tary arti cles by

the gene ral editors.

He passes remarks and sugge sti ons from outsi ders on to the editors.

On the basis of reac ti ons from readers or on his own initi a tive, the ombuds -

man ascert ains whether the editors have proces sed the news in accor dance

with gene ral jour na lis tic stand ards / duties of caution and care and in

accor dance with the Volks krant stand ards as laid down in the Blauwe Boekje

and the Stijl boek.

Editors are requi red to provide the ombuds man with infor ma tion in order

for him to be able to properly pursue his duties.

The ombuds man can address the editors in gene ral or indi vi dual editors.

Once a week he publis hes a regu lar column on ques ti ons, complaints and

sugge sti ons from readers and his expe rien ces with the editors in regard to

those. The maxi mum length of the column is 80 screen lines; it is placed on

the ‘U page’. Prior to publi ca tion, the column is submit ted to the

editor-in-chief and any editors it refers to, for infor ma tion only.

Appen di ces 157

All letters to the editors writ ten by readers are submit ted to the ombuds -

man for inspec tion.

Statute of the Ombudsman, NOS

Appoint ment

The NOS has an ombuds man who is appoin ted by the Gene ral Mana ger, for

the time being for a trial period up to 31 Decem ber 2008.

Inde pen dence

The Ombuds man is auto no mous and does not take orders. He reports

directly to the Gene ral Mana ger. He is not repla ced when absent due to

illness or holi days.

Assis tance

The ombuds man is assi sted by an inde pen dent "NOS Ombuds man's

Commit tee", appoin ted by the Gene ral Mana ger. The Commit tee is

compo sed of at least three members expe rien ced in jour na lism: a chair and

two members from outside the orga ni sa tion plus the Execu tive Secre tary.

Objec ti ves

The NOS is a publi cly-funded inde pen dent news orga ni sa tion. The NOS

sets great store by trans pa rent proce du res and gives account of its methods

of working.

Impro ving the quality of the news cove rage by the NOS through testing

said cove rage against the NOS Code. This code is based on the Missi ons of

the Nether lands Nati o nal Chan nel and the NOS, the "Code of Conduct for

Jour na lists" of the Inter na ti o nal Fede ra tion of Jour na lists (1954/1986), the

"Code of Conduct for Dutch jour na lists" of the Dutch Society of

Editors-in-Chief (1995) and the "Guide li nes of the Press Council" (2007).

Incre a sing the acces si bi lity of the NOS orga ni sa tion for its public

Raising aware ness of public inte rests among programme makers

Duties

The Ombuds man care fully moni tors the mani fes ta ti ons of the NOS on all

plat forms and inves ti ga tes whether the content of these broad casts

conforms to the NOS Code.

158 THE NEWS OMBUDSMAN

Ensuing from the NOS broad casts, the Ombuds man brings up jour na lis tic

issues in order to initi ate a discus sion on those issues in jour na lis tic profes -

si o nal circles and/or in society.

The Ombuds man comments on jour na lis tic issues that have star ted a

discus sion in those circles.

The Ombuds man inves ti ga tes, comments on and replies to complaints

from viewers, liste ners and readers about the news cove rage of the NOS,

inso far as they are rela ted to the jour na lis tic prin ci ples of the NOS.

Anony mous complaints are not taken into consi de ra tion.

As the occa sion arises, the Ombuds man takes the initi a tive to set up public

fora / discus sion groups on jour na lis tic issues.

The Ombuds man has a commen ting and advi sory role but does not pass

binding judge ments. The recti fi ca ti ons policy remains the respon si bi lity of

the gene ral editors.

Method of working

The ombuds man takes note of all complaints but deci des auto no mously on

how they will be dealt with.

All complai ners receive a response, even if the ombuds man will not deal

with a complaint for reasons of his own.

Programme makers are requi red to provide the Ombuds man with infor -

ma tion, with the excep tion of protec ting their sour ces, in order to enable

him to properly perform his duties.

The Ombuds man can address the editors in gene ral or indi vi dual members

of the edito rial staff.

The Ombuds man publis hes a weekly column on his findings via the Inter -

net.

The Ombuds man is gran ted inspec tion of all reac ti ons from viewers and

liste ners.

Appen di ces 159

The Ombuds man deci des on all matters that have not been laid down in the

Statute, after hearing the Gene ral Mana ger and consul ting the NOS

Ombuds man's Commit tee.

About the authors

Dr Huub Evers is a profes sor in ‘Interculturality and jour na lis tic quality’

and senior lectu rer in Media Ethics at the Fontys Univer sity of Applied

Scien ces, Depart ment of Jour na lism in Tilburg. He studied ethics and

obtai ned his docto rate with a thesis on jour na lis tic-ethi cal stand ards in the

judge ments passed by the Dutch Press Coun cil. He is a regu lar publis her on

topics rela ted to media and commu ni ca tion ethics as well as inter cul tu ral

jour na lism. In addi tion, he appe ars on radio and tele vi sion program mes as

an expert in this field. Dr Evers has held guest lectu res and intro duc ti ons at

a large number of univer sity insti tu ti ons at home and abroad.Contact:

h.evers@fontys.nl

Harmen Groen hart teaches Mass Commu ni ca ti ons at the Fontys Univer -

sity of Applied Scien ces, Depart ment of Jour na lism in Tilburg. He studied

commu ni ca tion scien ces in Nijme gen and is currently engaged in PhD

research into the func ti o ning of accoun ta bi lity and trans pa rency of jour na -

lism in the Nether lands. He has publis hed arti cles on opinion polls in the

press. Contact: h.groen hart@fontys.nl

Jan van Groe sen is Chair of the ‘Media-ombuds man Neder land’ [Nether -

lands Media Ombuds man] foun da tion. The aim of this foun da tion is to

effec tu ate real jour na lis tic self-regu la tion within Dutch-spea king regi ons.

This aim is reali sed on the one hand by taking a stand on struc tu ral issues

regar ding jour na lis tic ethics and on the other by initi a ting scien ti fic

research into such issues in co-opera tion with research univer si ties and

univer si ties of applied science.

Mr Van Groe sen is an expe rien ced inter na ti o nal jour na list. He was

employed by the Alge meen Neder lands Pers bu reau [Nether lands Nati o nal

News Agency, ANP] for many years; his last posi tion was that of a gene ral

editor. In addi tion, he served as Chair of the Board of the foun da tion ‘Inter -

na ti o naal Pers cen trum Nieuw spoort’ [Nieuw spoort Inter na ti o nal Press

Centre].

Contact: janvang roe sen@media-ombuds man.nl

About the authors 161